Economy Class & Beyond

Dear Sir Richard Branson. Buy It or Put up and Shut Up… (the sale of BMI)

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I'm probably going to win no supporters over at London Heathrow Terminal 3, but really the whining from Virgin Atlantic over the sale of BMI is getting intolerable from over there. As we all known, Lufthansa is trying to get shot of it's BMI subsidiary, and of course as I reported earlier this month, Sir Richard Branson of Virgin Atlantic fame is after BMI as usual, and … [Read more...]

Adria Airways cuts more routes

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Poor old Adriana Airways. Feeling the pinch from all corners, it's cutting another couple of routes - this time it's connections left, right and centre. Up for the chop are routes from Ljubljana  to: London Gatwick Paris Toulon Warsaw Banja Luka These terminate at the end of October. Adriana Airways is in the process of restructuring at the moment in a deal … [Read more...]

American Airlines to retire up to 11 757’s…

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According to Flight, it seems that American Airlines are modifying their fleet. with the carrier announcing it is to remove up to 11 757-200's from service during 2012. As part of an effort to reduce capacity, it's retiring 11 birds due to due to costs, jet fuel costs, and of course, the economy (when in doubt, blame the economy).. Speaking of fuel prices, a hedge of $29 … [Read more...]

Sri Lanka to charge for Visas….

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If it isn't Australia or the United States of America, it's now Sri Lanka who will be charging for Visas. So if you're heading there from 1st January 2012,  you'll need one. Head to www.eta.gov.lk and be prepared to cough up the following: US$50 for tourists (a double-entry month-long permit) US$60 for business travellers (business people multiple-entry) US$25 for … [Read more...]

Keep your laptop close when going through Germany…

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Disturbing news from Germany today with reports of a sanctioned Malware component from German government. The Chaos Computer Club has discovered a  Trojan horse virus that is capable of spying on Skype internet calls, monitoring the online activity of infected computers, logging keystrokes, and updating its functionality via the net. The tenuous link to travel is … [Read more...]

Arik Air orders two 747-8i’s… huh?

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Arik Air is an odd beast. With bits of it from Nigerian Airlines, and different investments here and there, it operates a 22 aircraft fleet, focusing on Nigeria and the area, as well as a few long-haul routes (namely, London, New York JFK, Abu Dhabi and Johannesburg). To run the long haul routes, it's drafted in a pair of Airbus A340-500's which can been seen flying some of … [Read more...]

Heathwick? What an awful idea….

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Hitting the press today in the United Kingdom has been the idea of "Heathwick" (with the Telegraph breaking it first, followed by the BBC The idea is to some simple - slap in a High Speed Rail link to operate between London Heathrow and London Gatwick Airports around the M25, running at 180mph to 15 minutes and create a "virtual hub" between the two airports. Ministers … [Read more...]

Dutch Railways to introduce “Emergency Plastic Relief Bags”

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Umm. Are we sure it's not April 1st? Oh dear. In this case, it's probably true. This up on the BBC News site, who note that the Dutch National Railways (Nederlandse Spoorwegen), is to add plastic bags as part of a first aid provision on some services. What you'll be doing in these bags... well.. is it to provide an emergency place to urinate. Or to put it bluntly - Wee … [Read more...]

Fares going down at Gatwick for British Airways

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British Airways must be feeling the pinch from all the other low cost carriers at London Gatwick, and has launched a new campaign of lower fares from/to Gatwick. Fares are down as much by 20%, for an undefined period (but not a short as a sale), and kick of from £39 a sector for Amsterdam, Bologna, Bordeaux, Malaga, Marseilles, and going up in steps from there (for example, … [Read more...]